


The Einhornhöhle

by tuppenny



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-18 08:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11287812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuppenny/pseuds/tuppenny
Summary: Tina and Newt's plans for a relaxing sightseeing trip through Western Europe are dashed when they catch wind of a rare magical creature in need of Newt's help. And perhaps Tina's.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tina arrives in London and Newt arrives late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Bili, because she asked.

Tina stepped off the gangplank into the hustle and bustle of the London port. Newt was supposed to meet her here, but right now all she saw was a sea of porters carrying large trunks, sailors scurrying every which way, and fellow passengers shakily trying to regain their land legs or happily greeting family or standing nervously around, like her, waiting for someone who might not come. She hoped Newt would come, and he’d promised he would, but she didn’t fully trust that he’d remember to show up. Although Newt was loyal to a fault and would never intentionally forget a commitment, he was also the very model of an absent-minded professor, so absorbed by his research that he often seemed to forget that there was a world outside of his work. And even when he was physically present, he’d be so involved in his thoughts about grindylow feeding habits that he’d trip over his own feet, he’d abruptly redirect conversations to share an opinion on animal conservation efforts in the Himalayas, or he’d remark that he was very sorry, but he’d just had a potentially discipline-altering epiphany about the lifecycle of the flobberworm, and he had to go consult his reference books immediately.

So it was with resignation, not panic, that she watched the other passengers trickle away until she was alone at the docks. Well, she was alone in the sense that she was probably the only person there who didn’t actually work there; there were plenty of sailors and longshoremen and teamsters around, all of them moving cargo, shoveling coal, and looking busier than a colony of beavers. She’d heard that longshoremen belonged to a particularly brutish class of men, but her wand was within easy reach if things did get dicey, and to be honest the men looked to be much too focused on finishing their work before dark to be interested in harassing her or starting a brawl. She was quite content to wait here until Newt finally did come. Or until it got dark and she had to find his lodging house on her own. Had she remembered to bring the sheet of paper with his temporary address? Surely it was somewhere in her stack of travel documents—if she hadn’t packed it, Queenie almost certainly had. Sometimes Tina thought she’d lose her own head if Queenie weren’t around to remind her where it was.

Tina laid her suitcase on the cobblestones and sat down to wait for Newt, sighing a little as she did so. Although she had nowhere to be and nothing to do --her only purpose for being here was to visit Newt, and she’d left all of the planning up to him, too, content to let him show her the parts of Europe that he liked instead of insisting on seeing the touristy highlights-- she did hope that he’d arrive soon. She’d felt too queasy to eat much while on board the ship, and what little she’d managed to swallow had left a greasy, fishy taste when it inevitably came back up. But by now her stomach had sensed that she was back on land, and it was clamoring for food. Not for the first time, she wished she’d thought to pack a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter for the trip over; she’d give just about anything for a peanut butter sandwich right about now. She’d know better for the way back, at least… Did they have peanut butter in England, though? Maybe she’d have to buy jam instead? Was England too far north to grow peanuts? Could peanuts be grown in greenhouses or bred selectively to withstand the cold? Hmm. She’d have to find a botanist and ask... She was so engrossed in thinking about peanuts that she didn’t see Newt loping across the docks towards her, his hair mussed from the riverside breeze.

“Hullo, Tina,” he said, startling her out of her reverie. She sprang to her feet and extended a hand for him to shake.

“Hello, Newt,” she said, smiling shyly. “It’s very nice to see you.”

He ducked his head in awkward acknowledgement. “You as well. How was your journey?”

“Uneventful,” she said. “Not much to do on the boat, so I finished a couple of novels. Have you read the latest by Dorothy Sayers? I wish I were half as clever as Lord Peter. Having detective skills as good as his would make my job a lot easier.”

“I’ve been reading zoology and muggle mythology books, mostly,” he said, moving to pick up her suitcase.

“Well, you can have my copy, then. I rarely reread books, and you ought to at least give Sayers a try.”

He nodded and offered her his arm. She placed her hand on the crook of his elbow and they began walking. “I’m sorry I’m late; I got word of a Bundimun infestation in the Fulham slums, and it had to be dealt with right away. You know how quickly they spread.”

Tina made a sympathetic noise. “We had to send out a team to deal with them down on the Lower East Side last summer. Nasty little creatures. Is it all taken care of, or would you like an extra pair of hands to finish the mopping up?”

“Oh, things are fine now.” He paused. “Well, mostly fine. I wasn’t able to save every building, but nearly all of them are still standing and Bundimun-free.”

“I’m sure the tenants appreciate it.”

“Hmm,” he frowned. “I’m not sure… I told them I was from the Council, of course, and mostly they just yelled at me for not fixing things sooner.”

She laughed. “Sounds about right.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “The Bundimuns were much pleasanter than the people.”

She nudged him gently with her shoulder. “Oh, Newt. Some people are wonderfully pleasant, you know.”

“Why do you think I asked you to come visit?”

“I guess you do know, then.” Her neck started to flush the way it always did when she was embarrassed, and she gave silent thanks for the thick scarf she’d worn to shield herself from the chill up on deck. Trying to move things back onto safer ground, she said, “I could do with a good meal and a nice chat about what you’ve planned for us to see on our trip—are there any restaurants nearby?”

“Plenty of halfway decent fish places, if you like that sort of thing.”

“ _No_ ,” she said with more force than she’d intended. “That is, I’d like to eat something that just drinks water instead of living in it. I’ve been subjected to so much fish over the last five days that I think I’m half mermaid by now.”

“Well in that case, I know just the pub to take you to. They make the best shepherd’s pie you’ve ever had.”

She grinned at Newt. “You’ll be right even if it tastes terrible, since I’ve never had shepherd’s pie.”

“ _What_?” He said, eyes wide. “Oh, you Americans, opting for sovereignty over shepherd’s pie. Trust me, Tina, once you try William Baker’s food, you’ll wish your War of Independence had never happened.”

“That’s a bold claim, Mr. Scamander,” she said, arching one eyebrow. “After all, you’re indebted to us for apple pie, and you poor Brits have to live life without Cracker Jack, too.”

“Cracker what?” He gave her a sideways glance. “Doesn’t sound very good.”

“Well, the words ‘shepherd’s pie’ don’t exactly make my mouth water, either,” she shot back. “I’ll take you to a Yankees game next time you visit me in New York, and you’ll see just how wrong you are. We’ll stuff ourselves full of peanuts and Cracker Jack, and then we can sing about it during the seventh-inning stretch,” she said. By now poor Newt looked thoroughly bewildered, and Tina, laughing, took mercy on him. “Just trust me, Newt. It’ll be fun. But for now, lead the way to the shepherd’s pie—I need to find out whether the American Revolution was worth it or not.”

“Right this way, then,” said Newt, waving his wand in a complicated pattern, and he and Tina disappeared into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm setting this story in the summer of 1927, about six months after the Fantastic Beasts movie takes place, so a few historical notes:
> 
> The average transatlantic sea voyage in the 1920s took about 5 days.  
> Dorothy Sayers published _Unnatural Death_ , her third novel about Lord Peter Wimsey, my personal favorite British detective, in 1927. I'm not sure what month the novel was published; for my purposes, I'm hoping it was published in the first half of the year!  
> I know nothing about Fulham; I picked it as the location for the slums because they were deplored in a December 1927 edition of _The Spectator_.  
>  Longshoremen had a bad reputation, but that was probably a class prejudice thing.  
> Peanut butter was invented in the 1800s, and EK Pond peanut butter was commercially available beginning in 1920. In 1928, EK Pond changed its name to Peter Pan. :) (Jif is clearly the best peanut butter, but it's not period appropriate. Sigh. ;) )  
> Cracker Jack was first sold as Cracker Jack in 1896, and the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame, which features the line "buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack," was written in 1908. It was first sung during a baseball game in 1934, but I'm taking some poetic license here (and I'm tattling on myself for being anachronistic, so maybe that makes up for messing with the timeline a little bit?).  
> Apparently the British term for the American Revolution is the War of Independence or the American War of Independence. I'm relying on google for this, so if you're British and I got it wrong, please do let me know!
> 
> Soooo this is just the start of what could end up being a fairly long fic, if people end up liking it enough for me to keep writing it in full detail. We shall see! I do hope you enjoy it, and thank you to all of you who enjoyed it enough to read all the way to this point, to leave kudos, and/or to leave me comments (I'm not even going to try to pretend like I don't care whether or not you leave comments-- I *love* comments).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tina finishes her dinner and Newt tells a family vacation story.

As Tina swallowed the last bites of her dinner, she decided that Newt had been right; shepherd’s pie was delicious. It couldn’t quite rival the savor and sweetness of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, true, but Tina was so hungry that it came awfully close. She was tempted to run her finger around the inside of the dish and lick off every last morsel of potato and gravy, but even though they were sitting in a corner booth and the lighting was dim, she was not about to be so rude in public. Or in front of Newt. _Although_ , she thought, watching Newt absently poke his fork into a pile of mushy peas, _He probably wouldn’t notice, let alone care, if I_ _started tossing globs of potato into his hair, slurping my pink lemonade,_ and _licking my fingers right this moment._ Eyeing the crumbs that had fallen onto his waistcoat, she mused, _And if he did notice, he might not even realize that any of that was poor manners_.

She laughed to herself and put down her fork. “A penny for your thoughts?”

Newt jumped slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was distracted again, wasn’t I?”

Tina gave him a fond smile. “I don’t mind—I like being quiet with you. I am curious about what’s going on in that head of yours, though.”

He blinked a few times and looked at her earnestly. “How would you like to go to Germany?”

“I’d like that very much. Where in Germany did you have in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking we could take a steamer to Hamburg and then catch a train to the Harz Mountains. The caves and forests there are home to all sorts of wonderful creatures—redcaps, all sorts of talking animals, the spirits and imps that are attracted to the Brocken, and even larger beasts like lindworms and white stags. We’re much too crowded here in England to find most of those anymore. And after a few days in the mountains, perhaps we could hop another train to Hessen for a cruise down the Rhine? The countryside there is beautiful, and if we’re lucky we might even hear the Lorelei.”

She gave him a look. “If we’re lucky? Surely you mean if we’re _un_ lucky—doesn’t the Lorelei sing men to their deaths?” Tina was no magizoologist, but even she knew that the Lorelei was dangerous.

“Well, yes,” Newt admitted, “But just think of the data I could gather from hearing her sing! You’d be there to make sure I didn’t do anything foolish, and it would be such a wonderful addition to my book!”

Tina rolled her eyes. “Okay, Newt. Let’s assume that I can keep you from diving overboard even though you’re slightly taller than I am and have more upper body strength. What will we do in the highly likely event that the captain of our ship is also a man?”

Newt scratched his head sheepishly. “I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose that could be a problem.”

She took a sip of her lemonade and nodded. “The Harz sounds lovely, though. I’ve never been to the mountains before.”

“Really?” He tilted his head sideways in surprise.

“I’m a city girl through and through. The closest I’ve ever gotten to mountains is picnicking at the top of the Palisades by the Hudson River. Or climbing the rocks in Central Park when I was a kid.”

He laughed. “Well, that settles it, then. We need to get you out into some genuine wilderness. Of course, Scotland is breathtaking, and it is much closer…”

She wiped her mouth with the corner of her napkin. “Mmm, but you’ve already catalogued all the magical creatures you were searching for in Scotland, haven’t you? Let’s go to the Harz. It’ll be new to both of us. That turns it into an adventure instead of making you play the tour guide.”

“I’m a terrible tour guide,” Newt said. “I lead people to all the wrong places and say all the wrong things.”

“I’m sure you’re not that bad,” she protested.

“You wouldn’t say that if you had gone on the Scamander Family’s 1922 Summer Holiday Abroad,” he said ruefully. “It was a disaster.”

“What happened?” She said, leaning in for a story.

“I was doing fieldwork in Egypt, and the parents decided to come visit and do a little sightseeing. They didn’t tell me what they meant by sightseeing, though,” he said, raising his hands in a helpless gesture, “So I took them to all the sights that _I_ thought were worth seeing. We went to the ancient sphinx hunting grounds, toured several notable catteries, and visited a fascinating museum on scarab beetles.” His voice brightened. “Did you know that the female scarab lays each of her eggs in its own ball of dung, which the larva uses as a food source once it hatches? Such resourcefulness!” He paused a moment so that Tina had time to fully appreciate the marvels of the dung beetle. She smiled, and, heartened, he continued. “My family seemed bored by all of that, though, and Mother was rather upset about the beetles. She called them nasty little bugs—can you believe it? The venerable scarab, a nasty little bug?!” He was quite indignant, and Tina calmed him with a sympathetic noise. “Yes, well. I thought perhaps they wanted something more obviously impressive, so I took them to the Nile to see if we could spot some crocodiles.” He leaned in closer, his eyes dreamy at the memory of the massive predators. “They’re amazing creatures, you know, and even though they’re not magical, they do have deep ties to Egyptian magic. The raw power of those creatures, Tina, it’s enough to take your breath away.” He shook his head in wonder. “But it all went horribly wrong—a particularly large crocodile ate father’s gold-plated walking stick, mother collapsed in hysterics and fell into the river, I had to magic her out in full view of half a dozen muggles who immediately fled the scene, so then I had to chase each of them through the desert and wipe their minds, and… well, let’s just say my parents returned to England a little earlier than they’d planned.” He sighed, and Tina did her best to stifle a giggle. “It turns out they’d just wanted me to take them to the Great Pyramid of Giza and show them a few mummies in glass cases, that sort of thing.” He shrugged. “So you see, I’m a miserable tour guide.”

“I don’t think that sounds like a bad vacation at all,” Tina said, reaching across the table to hold his hand. “Your mother’s bath in the Nile was unfortunate, but accidents happen. And looters have made mummies a dime a dozen attraction in Britain and America—you took your parents to things they couldn’t see anywhere else in the world. It’s not your fault they didn’t appreciate what you were showing them.” She squeezed his fingers gently. “I’d be happy to have you give me a tour of Egypt, Newt.”

His eyes brightened and he smiled shyly. “How about an adventure tour of the Harz?”

“Of course.” She blushed. “I can’t think of a nicer way to spend my holiday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pink lemonade was invented in the mid 1800s, although who’s responsible and how it was invented is disputed. (And since lemonade in the US is not the same as lemonade in the UK, you can decide for yourself whether Tina was drinking something carbonated or uncarbonated. :) )  
> The first documented use of the phrase “a penny for your thoughts” (well, just ‘thought’ in the original) was in Thomas More’s 1522 book _Last Four Things_ , which was published when a penny was worth a lot.  
> The Lorelei is totally a thing. You can go see the rock she sits on and sings from. It's on my to-do list.  
> The Brocken is the highest peak in the Harz Mountains (which are located in Saxony-Anhalt, sort of in the geographic northern middle of Germany), and it’s featured in Goethe’s masterpiece _Faust_ as the place where witches go to celebrate Walpurgis Night. I always imagine Walpurgis Night on the Brocken as the Fantasia scene that's set to "Night on Bald Mountain," but Bald Mountain isn't the same thing as the Brocken. Oh well.  
>  The scarab beetle fact is true! I think dung beetles are pretty cool, and I feel sorry for poor Newt, being saddled with parents who can't tell when they're being shown a good time. 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter; more is on the way!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Newt helps Tina with seasickness and Tina sees mountains for the first time.

Tina wasn’t enthused about having to get back on a ship in order to go to Hamburg, but she gritted her teeth and bore it. This trip was much easier than her transatlantic voyage, though; listening to Newt talk about underwater creatures, both magical and nonmagical, made the journey pass much more quickly. Instead of feeling hemmed in by endless gray water and nauseated by the ship’s constant motion, she closed her eyes and lost herself in Newt’s stories about the ocean beneath. And Newt, sensing Tina’s tension, abandoned his usual reticence and spent the entire trip describing the wonders of the deep—Cuvier’s beaked whales swimming far below the ship, curled octopuses battling for territory, ghostly forests of kelp and pods of transparent moon jellies drifting in the current.

Their ship docked in Hamburg early in the morning, leaving them plenty of time to catch a train to Wernigerode, a quaint little town very near the Brocken. And although they spent most of the train ride drowsing on and off –Tina wasn’t sure why the rocking motion of a ship made her ill, whereas the rocking motion of the train lulled her asleep, but she was grateful for the chance to rest– they also caught snippets of conversation from fellow passengers. Some was in English; plenty of Brits were taking advantage of the favorable exchange rate to see the Continent. Tina was able to ignore these conversations easily enough, as her brain registered them as everyday, inessential background noise. She had more trouble shutting out the German conversations, though, because to her, the consonants and cadence of German would always remind her of her parents.

Tina’s parents were born and raised in America, just like Tina and Queenie, but although the Goldsteins used English in public, they spoke Yiddish at home. After their parents’ deaths, Tina and Queenie had fallen out of the habit of using the language, like so many first and second-generation Americans. But now, chugging through the German countryside, her subconscious thrilled to catch familiar words and strained to make sense of the phrases that sounded like things she ought to know but couldn’t quite decode.

“ _Meine Damen und Herren, in wenigen Minuten erreichen wir Wernigerode. Bitte links aussteigen_ ,” the conductor announced as he strolled through the train car.

“That’s us, Newt,” Tina said, hopping to her feet, suddenly excited to spend the next week exploring Germany and eavesdropping on passers-by. “We’ll exit on the left.”

Newt stood and stretched, accidentally knocking the hat off of the dignified housewife sitting next to him. “Er, I’m sorry,” he stammered, bobbing around to locate the hat and stepping on the backs of Tina’s shoes as he did so.

The German woman frowned at Newt, who handed her hat back, flushed beet red, and exited the train compartment with a series of squeaky, apologetic noises.

Tina held her hand out to him with a smile. “It’s alright, you know. Now, instead of eating dinner in silence, she and her husband will have something to talk about.”

His ears turned pink, but he gave her a grateful look, and they stepped down onto the train platform hand in hand.

“Oh, Newt, it’s like a fairytale!” Tina gasped, admiring the traditional red roofs and brightly painted façades.

He grinned at her and hefted his case in his left hand. “I’ve booked us a room at the local wizard’s inn,” he said. “Shall we go find it and then explore a little?”

“Yes, please,” she breathed, in awe of just how picturesque the town was. Her eyes were wide as she took in the colorful, half-timbered houses, their window-boxes spilling over with red geraniums and variegated petunias; the cobblestone streets dotted with a mix of tourists admiring the scenery and locals running their daily errands; and the bakeries, their shelves piled high with delicate pastries and loaves of hearty bread. She let Newt guide her to the inn, content to marvel at her surroundings and soak in the fresh air. Had she ever been somewhere with so little traffic and so much sky? New York was beautiful in a way she couldn't put into words, but this was a peaceful beauty unlike anything she’d experienced as an adult. She almost regretted reaching the inn; there were so many streets left to explore!

Newt approached the clerk and spoke in halting German. “Guten Tag, mein Herr, uhhh…” His eyes darted nervously from check-in desk to the nattily dressed clerk. “Zwei Zimmer, bitte? Ich bin… ich heiße Scamander,” he said, holding up two fingers and then pointing to himself.

“Ahh, Herr Scamander!” The clerk smiled widely and held out a hand to shake. “Welcome, welcome. We are pleased to have someone of your caliber stay at our little hotel.” He flipped through the reservation book, scanning each line with his finger. “Yes, we have two rooms reserved and ready for you. They are adjoining rooms on the third floor, I do I hope that is satisfactory.”

Newt nodded, grateful that the man spoke English. He had nearly exhausted his spoken German, which was limited to phrases he’d picked up during the Great War. “Yes, thank you, that suits us very well.”

“Right this way, then, please, Herr Scamander and Fräulein…?”

“Goldstein,” said Tina, tearing her attention away from the cozily decorated lobby. She knew Queenie would want a full report of the fabrics and fashions she’d encountered on her trip, and she wasn’t about to disappoint her younger sister.

The clerk nodded and inclined his head, motioning Newt and Tina up the sturdy wooden staircase. The rooms he unlocked for them were just as charming as everything else in this small town, and Tina noted approvingly that each room was equipped with its own bathroom, as well.

“We begin serving dinner at six, should you like to partake, but of course Wernigerode has a wide variety of fine German restaurants to sample, as well. I am happy to make recommendations if you would like, and please let me know if I can assist you in any way.”

“Thank you,” Newt and Tina chorused.

The clerk bowed slightly and returned downstairs, leaving the two travelers to unpack and settle in. “Well, what do you think?” Newt asked, crouching down to unlock his battered brown suitcase.

“About what?”

“The place, I suppose. And dinner.” He reached his hand into the case and fished around until he located Tina’s travel valise, which he tugged up and over the lip of his magical suitcase before handing it gently to her.

“The place seems very nice, don’t you think? And this is such a charming little town! I’d love to explore some more and eat dinner away from the hotel, if that’s alright with you.”

“Of course,” said Newt, smiling and offering her his arm. “Shall we leave now? I see the twinkle of adventure in your eye.”

Tina did her best to suppress a grin, to no avail. “Let’s,” she said, resting her arm on his elbow and walking down the staircase with him. “Did you see the mountains, Newt? They’re right there!” She twisted around briefly to magic their doors shut before continuing downstairs. “We could go hiking right now, if we wanted! I can’t believe it—I’ve never been so close to mountains before. They’re much bigger than they seem in books, don’t you think?”

He nodded and laid his free hand over hers.

“Oh, I know it’s silly of me, but I’m just so excited to be here.” She snuck a glance at him before adding, shyly, “Especially with you.”

He tightened his grip on her hand and turned his face to hers. “I do hope you enjoy it,” he said earnestly. “And please speak up if you’re not having a nice time… I don’t want a repeat of the Egypt fiasco,” he added.

She nudged him gently in the ribs. “You are not responsible for every little thing that happens on this trip, Newt,” she said. “And as long as I get to spend time with you, I’ll be happy.” The two of them walked in silence for a while, savoring the weight and warmth of each other’s presence. They wandered down curving alleyways, invented stories about who might live in the castle overlooking the town, and laughed whenever one of them tripped on an uneven cobblestone, even though they stumbled so often (because all of their attention was focused on each other) that, by all rights, they should have stopped finding it funny.

Eventually, Tina’s stomach started growling, and they began to look for an appealing restaurant. They found one with a clear view of the town hall, which, with its swooping roof and cheery salmon paint job, embodied all of the town’s rustic medieval charm. The waiter seated them quickly, and soon they were eating food that Tina was sure would help her regain the weight she’d lost on the first leg of her trip to Europe.

“Do we climb to the Brocken from here, then?” She asked Newt, who was chasing a large, round dumpling across his plate.

“Mmm, no, it’s rather a long hike from here, we’ll take the train partway. We’ll still have five hours of hiking to and from the station, though, so I’d be happy to have another dinner like this tomorrow night.”

“I’d be happy to have another dinner like this even without hiking,” Tina said, loading her fork with red cabbage and Sauerbraten. “Maybe even a breakfast, lunch, _and_ dinner,” she mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Newt smiled. “It is good, isn’t it.”

“Delicious!” She said, turning to the fried potatoes on the side of her plate. “I wonder if Queenie would make this for me?”

“I think she can cook just about anything, can’t she?”

Tina nodded. “I’ll buy her a recipe book tomorrow, then,” she said. “It’s close enough to Yiddish that she’ll be able to figure out what it says.”

“I didn’t know you spoke Yiddish,” Newt said, leaning his elbows on the table.

“Mhmm,” she said, fidgeting a little.

“Do you understand everything people say here, then?”

“Mostly,” she said, tucking a lock of her short hair behind her ear. “Like those men, over there, let’s see…” She narrowed her eyes in concentration and tilted her head to hear them better.

Newt watched her closely, admiration playing across his face. He’d never been good with languages, and so he had a healthy respect for anyone who spoke more than one. Not that he’d ever had much of a chance to learn anything besides English, growing up in a wealthy British wizarding family that viewed the world as something that ought to understand _it_ , not the other way around. This deliberate omission in his education had been frustrating when he’d served in the Great War, as most of the other aristocratic chaps in his regiment had spoken enough French to have a bawdy chat with their Continental allies, and, in some cases, enough German to order prisoners around or plead for their lives when caught by the forces doing post-battle mop-up work in no-man’s land. But even though Newt did his best to pick up dribs and drabs of French and German from his fellow soldiers, he came away with little more than the ability to count and to tell people that he spoke English—could they speak English? Hardly useful. He’d tried his best; it’s just that Newt had trouble catching sounds and subtleties and unwritten cues even in his native tongue, let alone anything foreign. And so watching Tina eavesdrop gave him a warm glow of pleasure. He loved seeing her mind at work, watching her do things he would never be capable of, sitting near her as her brain worked in ways he simply couldn’t comprehend. In his opinion, this was the perfect ending to an eventful day.

Tina, however, was looking progressively more concerned. The worry lines on her forehead deepened into furrows, and she screwed her eyes shut so as to focus completely on the conversation at the next table. After a while, she blinked and stared straight at Newt.

"Newt,” she whispered, leaning across the table, not noticing –or perhaps simply not caring– that her sleeve had dragged through the remains of her meal. “Those men there, they’re… they’re…” she gulped. “They’re planning to kill a unicorn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens, oooooo! (Or should I say, the plot becomes apparent... because there hasn't really been one up until now. Oops.)
> 
> I don't have many historical notes for this section, but I did stick in some non-historical facts, so I'll share those:  
> Cuvier's beaked whales, curled octopuses, and moon jellyfish all live in the North Atlantic, and they all behave in the ways Newt describes.  
> Wernigerode is the jumping-off point many people use to go to the Brocken, though it's also just a nice place to visit in its own right. It's an adorable little town, and the Town Hall is so pretty that a lot of people get their wedding photos taken in front of it. Google a pic of it, it's really cute.  
> "Meine Damen und Herren, in wenigen Minuten erreichen wir Wernigerode. Bitte links aussteigen" means "Ladies and Gentlemen, in a few minutes we will arrive in Wernigerode. Please exit on the left." I have no idea what German train conductors said back then when approaching a station, but that's about what they say now :)  
> I'm not a sauerbraten fan, and I can take or leave German dumplings, but I looooove red cabbage and fried potatoes (Bratkartoffel = YUM). Give them a shot if you get the chance.  
> Yiddish and German are fairly mutually intelligible, depending on the Yiddish dialect and the German dialect. So, assuming compatible accents and dialects, Tina could understand most, or perhaps even all, of what was going on in both written and spoken German.  
> Oh, two historical notes-- the UK/Germany exchange rate was favorable for the UK in 1927, and Tina's last name is obviously Jewish, but that wouldn't have been a problem in the 1920s in Germany-- at least not in most places and with most people. I debated having her offer a pseudonym to the hotel clerk, but at this point in time it wouldn't have been necessary or something she would have thought to do.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading & reacting! Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tina gives Newt a short lesson on German politics and Newt has to make small talk with a stranger.

“They’re _what_?” Newt’s voice was uncharacteristically loud.

“Shhhh!” Tina hissed. “They’re planning to kill a unicorn. Well, they aren’t, exactly, but they’re talking about someone who is.”

Newt sprang to his feet. “I’ve got to stop them!”

Tina reached across the table and yanked him back down into his seat. “You mean _we’ve_ got to stop them. And these men won’t be of any use to us, they’re just repeating rumors. We need to pay for our meal and get back to the hotel, where I can tell you everything I’ve heard in private.” She scanned the busy restaurant. “I don’t want to make plans here, where anyone could listen in.”

Newt’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded his agreement.

Tina raised a hand to call for the check, and within minutes the two of them were back on the streets of Wernigerode, walking to their hotel as quickly as they could. Once they’d returned to Newt’s room and finished setting up shields against any curious listeners, Newt whirled around to face Tina and demanded, “Tell me everything. I—we can’t waste a minute, we’ve got to save that unicorn.”

Tina pulled a wooden chair out from underneath the room’s small writing desk and sat down backwards, facing Newt, her folded arms resting on the back of the chair. “Tell me, Newt, what do you know about the German economy and the Weimar Republic?”

“ _What?_ ” Newt ground his teeth with impatience. “I told you, Tina, we have to move quickly on this—that creature is in danger!”

“And I want to save it just as much as you do,” she said, heatedly, “Or I wouldn’t have translated for you in the first place. But you need to know the context here so that you can relate to the killers if we have to try and reason with them. You’d be surprised how many people let themselves be talked out of terrible things if you can just sympathize with their fears.”

“Learned that from Queenie, eh?” Newt grumbled, sinking onto the edge of his bed.

“And in my auror training,” she shot back. “I catch criminals for a living, in case you’d forgotten.”

“Right. Sorry.” He rubbed his neck awkwardly. “Fine. I know next to nothing about German economics and politics. What do I need to know?”

“Just the basics. Germany’s a democracy, but the government is pretty unstable, and it has been ever since the Great War ended—they’ve had 12 Chancellors in the last nine years. The current Chancellor has been in office for only 14 months, but that’s still longer than all but two of his predecessors.” Newt gave a low whistle. “Exactly. And then two months ago the Berlin Stock Market collapsed. They’re calling it ‘Black Friday.’ A lot of people lost a lot of money, and everyone’s still jittery about it. A lot of smart people are worried that the whole country will sink into a depression.”

“Alright, so people are nervous. What does that have to do with the unicorn?”

“Well, you know how unicorns are supposed to bring good luck? Apparently, there’s an old legend that a unicorn lives in a cave around here, and some of the locals –maybe wizards, maybe not, the men didn’t say– have gotten it into their heads that if they can catch and sacrifice the unicorn, they’ll be able to keep things from getting worse.”

Newt goggled at her.

“Yes, it’s ridiculous, but people will do just about anything when they’re scared.”

“That’s true,” Newt muttered, holding his head in his hands. “Did they say where the unicorn cave was, or mention any names, or say when the attack was supposed to take place?”

“I didn’t understand everything, but no, I don’t think so.”

He groaned. “So we don’t know who or where or when. That complicates things.”

“Well, it’s really not important to know the who if all we’re trying to do is save the unicorn—we don’t have to stop the killers, we just have to beat them to finding the creature. And when isn’t so important, either, because unless the unicorn is right here, we have no way to get to the where by tonight, anyway, and that’s something we can’t help. I think we should focus on figuring out where to go and getting there as quickly as possible.”

“I just hope we get there in time,” Newt said, his voice heavy.

“So do I,” she said. “Here, how about this—you go ask the clerk about unicorn cave legends. He recognized your name, so he won’t be surprised or suspicious if you start asking around about local magical creatures. I’ll walk over to the train station and copy down the timetables so we can make sure to be on the earliest train to wherever we need to go.”

“I can do that,” Newt said. “Do you feel safe walking in the dark by yourself?”

Tina pulled her wand out of her coat pocket and waved it at him.

“Point taken,” said Newt. “Right, then, I’ll see you back here in an hour?”

“Yes,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze before leaving the room and heading out into the night.

~~~

The clerk wasn’t downstairs when Newt went to ask him about local unicorn legends, so he sat down in a plush armchair to wait. The lobby was small but carefully decorated, with photographs and ink drawings of Wernigerode and the Harz.

“ _Sehr schön hier, oder?_ ” said a heavyset man sitting on the couch across from Newt.

Newt did a double-take. “I—oh, I’m sorry, I don’t speak German. Um… sprechen Sie Englisch?”

The man smiled, his top lip disappearing under a majestic gray mustache. “A little. Just saying it is pretty here, yes?”

“Very,” said Newt.

“And you are here because of the Brocken?”

“I was, but I’ve had a change of plans, so I’ll have to visit another time.”

“Too bad,” he said, shaking his head and causing the folds of extra skin under his chin to wobble. “It is a nice wander way.”

Newt bobbed his head awkwardly and tried to decide whether he could end the conversation there or if he was socially obligated to continue. He’d heard that Germans weren’t big on small talk—maybe they made exceptions when on vacation? Luckily, the clerk reappeared, saving Newt from having to interact with the man any further.

“Have a nice evening,” he said, hopping to his feet and walking directly to the front desk.

“And you,” said the man. “Maybe we meet again later.”

Newt didn’t respond, though, as by now he was thoroughly focused on wringing every last drop of potentially useful information from the clerk. It was much easier than he’d thought—apparently the Unicorn Cave, or Einhornhöhle, was a well-known local attraction. Muggles had found the bones of a unicorn there in the 1500s, and when the wizarding community investigated the matter, they found that a large unicorn herd did in fact make its summer home in the woods around the cave. The flock had dwindled and finally disappeared in the centuries since, but this summer there had been a flurry of whispers about unicorn sightings in the woods again.

“Nothing verified, Mr. Scamander, it is probably a, how do you say it, a wild goose chase to go searching for it,” the clerk cautioned. “I don’t want you to make the journey only to be disappointed.”

Newt ignored this last bit. “How do I get there from here?”

“By train. There is a direct route. I would be happy to book you tickets, if you would like.”

“Thank you,” said Newt, “but it’s really rather important that I get there as soon as possible—I need to buy tickets for the next train headed that way, so I imagine it would be easiest to go and buy them myself.”

“Yes,” said the clerk. “You’ll want the 9:30 morning train, then. I’m sorry you’ll be cutting short your visit with us.”  


“Quite,” said Newt absently. “Thank you for your help.” He turned and walked slowly back upstairs, completely oblivious to the steely expression on the face of the other guest in the lobby, who watched Newt until he disappeared from sight.

~~~

Tina arrived in Newt’s room a few minutes later, carrying a sheet of paper with tomorrow’s train times. “Any luck on your end?”

“Yes. We’re headed to Scharzfeld by the 9:30 train tomorrow morning.”

“Guess I didn’t need to copy all this down, then,” she said, balling up the paper and tossing it into the trashcan. “I’m glad we’ll be able to leave so early, since I don’t think either of us is going to be able to sleep tonight.”

Newt gave her a lopsided smile.

“What’s our plan once we get there?” She asked, settling back down in the desk chair. “I don’t know much about unicorns; I wasn’t very good at my Magical Creature Husbandry classes. They only show themselves to female virgins or something, right?”

“That’s a common misconception, actually,” said Newt, his voice confident in a way it was only when talking about animals. “Unicorns will occasionally show themselves to men, although they _are_ more attracted to women, but the key point is innocence. They will never appear to anyone with blood on their hands or murder in their hearts. In medieval times that usually meant young women, so you can see how the rumors would get started.”

“But our killers could use an innocent to lure the unicorn?”

“Exactly.” Newt stopped pacing for a moment and pressed his lips together, debating whether or not to share his budding plan with Tina.

“Spit it out, Newt,” she said, resting her chin on the back of the chair.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do—it would put you in danger, and I’m not sure if I could bear that.”

“Well, I'm willing to bet that you wouldn’t be able to bear it if this unicorn were killed,” said Tina. “I can take care of myself, Newt. I’m a grown woman and an auror, to boot; something you seem to be forgetting rather a lot on this trip. Don’t you trust me?”

He squinted at the ceiling and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I do. And I know you can take care of yourself. I've never doubted that, not since the moment I met you." He scratched his nose. "I’m not used to working with other people, Tina, particularly not people I actually... like... So I’m doing a rather bad job of it. I’m sorry.” He flicked his eyes back towards her and then stared intently at the floor.

She sighed. “Working as part of a team is something that takes practice,” she said, reassuringly. “You’ll get better as we go along. But you don’t need to worry about me, okay? I’m used to being in danger, it’s part of my job.” She moved from the chair to the edge of his bed and patted the space next to her. “Sit. Tell me your plan.”

Newt looked up from the floor, scanned her face, and, seemingly convinced by whatever it was he saw there, moved to sit next to her. “Well, you’ll need to be the one who attracts the unicorn,” he said, blinking several times in succession. “I’m… I can’t do it, because I’ve fought in the war.” He took a deep breath. “If all goes well, it should be fairly simple—you’ll need to wear a white dress out into the forest at night, find a quiet place to sit, and wait for the unicorn to come to you. I’ll be within earshot so that you can call me when it arrives, and once it does I’ll bring over my suitcase. Between the two of us, we ought to be able to coax it inside. And then all we have to do is let it loose somewhere it’ll be safe, far away from the Harz. Or maybe far away from Germany altogether.”

“That doesn’t sound dangerous at all, Newt,” said Tina.

“Well, you will be alone in the forest at night, and we don’t know how many unicorn killers might be out there at the same time.”

“I won’t be alone—you’ll be nearby. And even if you weren’t, I’m perfectly capable of defending myself, as I keep telling you. Besides, the unicorn killers don’t even know we’re coming—the only way they’d pose a risk to me is if they stumbled across me, which seems unlikely in such a large forest.”

“You’re right,” said Newt reluctantly, “But it still makes me nervous.”

“Well, important things are never easy,” said Tina, laying a hand on his knee. “It’ll work out just fine, you’ll see.” The two of them sat like that for a minute, keenly aware that they were alone in Newt’s bedroom in the middle of the night. Tina broke the spell first, rising to her feet and saying briskly, “I don’t have a white dress with me, though—I’ll have to buy something tomorrow before we catch the train. I suppose it would be easiest for us to each buy our own ticket and board the train separately? That way I can get to the dress shop as soon as it opens and you can check us out, pay, and pick up some food from one of the bakeries.”

“Agreed,” said Newt, his pupils dilated and his breath just a little bit ragged. “Sleep well, Tina. See you at the station.”

She nodded and left for her room, clicking the door gently shut behind her.

~~~

Tina had lied about not being able to sleep—all of this travel had worn her out, and she woke up so late that she barely had enough time to dash out to the closest dress shop. She wasn’t able to find anything long enough to truly fit her lanky form, particularly since she didn’t want to buy traditional German clothing –when would she ever wear it again?– and flapper dresses were cut short, anyway. She figured she’d pull on some white silk stockings so as not to be completely scandalous while sitting outside at night, by herself, in the middle of a forest. She laughed. Oh well, if all went according to plan, Newt would be the only one seeing her like that, anyway. Her neck and face turned scarlet. Oh, heavens. That had been absolutely the wrong thing to think. She made it to the train station just in time, bought a ticket from the conductor on board, and walked up and down the train, searching for Newt. He’d found two empty seats in a compartment near the front, and they nodded to each other cordially as she slid the compartment door open and took the spot next to him.

He noticed her cheeks, which he assumed were flushed from running to catch the train. She didn't correct him. “You alright?”

“Yes. You?”

“Fine.”

They were too nervous –and, presumably, Newt was too tired– to talk, so they both settled into their seats to watch the scenery roll by. Despite having slept well the night before, Tina nodded off after only half an hour or so, and Newt decided to go stretch his legs. He hated this helpless in-between time that was an unavoidable part of his job. Sitting still was such a waste of time; he’d much rather be feeding the animals in his suitcase, picking Tina’s brain about green June beetle flight patterns, or, well, doing just about anything, really. And so he began walking up and down the train, pausing to look out the windows every so often, admiring the dense pine forests they were passing through.

After a while, he found a space in one of the train carriages that, while usually used to store luggage, was completely empty and wholly deserted. Overjoyed at having found somewhere to be alone for a little bit, he settled in to look out the window and distract himself by trying to decide how many white stags could survive in a wooded area of this size. Quite a lot, he should think. But that wasn’t taking the railway or the tourists into account—how much hiking traffic could the authorities allow before upsetting the stags’ delicate constitution? Had the muggle railway directors known not to lay train tracks across the white stags’ migration routes? He was so lost in thought that he almost didn’t hear heavy footsteps coming up behind him. He did, however, register the sharp blow to his skull. Newt was unconscious before he even had time to cry out, and he slid limply to the ground, his cheek settling against the train car’s carpeting.

The mustachioed man from the lobby nodded in satisfaction, the heavy footsteps retreated, and the train chugged steadily on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, poor Newt!
> 
> Historical notes: 
> 
> The German Chancellor at this time was Wilhelm Marx, a member of the centrist Zentrum party. He governed from May 1926-June 1928, a period of relative calm for the notoriously unstable Weimar Republic. The facts about people's time in office and the number of Chancellors are all true.
> 
> The Berlin stock market crashed on May 13, 1927, due mainly, as far as I can tell, to the German federal government's misguided economic policy. The German economy seemed to weather this hit reasonably well, though, because everything that I read talked about the economic woes that hit with the Great Depression, not about what happened in 1927.
> 
> The Einhornhöhle, or Unicorn Cave, is a real thing. (Google it!) It went by another name prior to 1583ish, but in that year we see the first written mention of the Unicorn Cave, which acquired its name due to bones and teeth that were discovered in the cave and that surely must have belonged to a unicorn! Archaeologists today think that the bones were just from some large mammals. (But unicorns would be large mammals, so you never know...)
> 
> Linguistic note:  
> I had the baddie say "wander way" instead of "hiking trail" or something because the German word for hiking trail is Wanderweg, and with beginner/infrequently used English it'd be tempting to translate that literally. (Plus doesn't wander way sound really cute?)
> 
> I hope you liked it! I've got two more chapters planned, so we're 2/3 of the way through now. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which rather a lot happens because this chapter is nearly 3,000 words long, but that's a terrible chapter summary, so how about... In which Tina works some magic and Newt discovers a new medicine he happens to like rather a lot.

Tina drifted awake; that had been a glorious nap. And since she’d probably be up half the night searching for a unicorn, she was going to take all the sleep she could get. Newt should do the same, but, seeing the empty seat next to her, she guessed he was either walking around the train or using the restroom. She readjusted her skirts and reached below her seat to pull a copy of Agatha Christie’s _The Big Four_ out her travel valise. She smiled, excited to lose herself in a world so very different from the one she knew. Imagine-- a world where criminals were caught without magic.

Several chapters later, Tina’s stomach rumbled. Hopefully Newt had remembered to go to the bakery this morning… But then again, even if he had, he’d probably stored the food somewhere deep inside his suitcase, which meant that she couldn’t eat until he returned. After what had happened in New York over Christmas, she knew better than to open that case without Newt there. Who knew what kind of magical creatures she’d release into this crowded little train compartment while she poked around for pretzels. No, thank you. She was not about to chase an erumpent through a speeding train—if that was even possible. It was more likely to simply get stuck and make the entire train compartment explode.

Her stomach rumbled again, this time loudly enough for the lady seated across from her to hear. The woman gave a sympathetic smile, and Tina’s ears turned red. Where was Newt, anyway? She’d been awake at least half an hour, and she’d yet to see either hide or hair of him. She guessed he was probably anxious about the unicorn, but weren’t traveling companions supposed to actually, well, _travel_ together? Oh well—the train wasn’t that big; she’d just go find him and make him give her breakfast. Then she could try to distract him for a bit, or he could go back to pacing and worrying if he wanted to.

Altering the vowel sounds of her Yiddish so as to sound slightly more German, she asked the lady across from her if she’d mind watching Tina’s bags for a minute. Or at least she hoped that’s what she’d asked; she wasn’t really sure. But the lady nodded and smiled again, so it was probably fine. Tina slid open the door to the compartment and headed towards the back of the train.

She walked through car after car without even the slightest glimpse of Newt; where could he be? As she neared the caboose, she started getting nervous enough to peer into other compartments, thinking maybe he’d sat down somewhere else, even though she couldn’t imagine why he would. She was maneuvering around a luggage rack to get into the last carriage when something caught her attention. There, under the sloppily stacked suitcases—was that a shoe? Was that _Newt’s_ shoe?

The frantic beating of her heart drowned out the clickety-clack of the train moving steadily towards Scharzfeld. She crouched down, slowly pulling away suitcase after suitcase, until—yes. That was Newt. She stared at him a moment, frozen by the sight of his pale face and the blood that had started to crust in his hair and across his face. He was folded awkwardly onto his side, his gangly limbs clearly too long to fit in the luggage rack, and Tina marveled that anyone had been able to stuff so much of him in there in the first place. She was less shocked that someone had thought to do it than she was that they had succeeded—being an auror had taught her that the human imagination was boundless when it came to cruel and criminal activity.

Strangely, now that she’d found him, her heart slowed back to its normal rhythm, and she felt neither anger nor fear. There wasn’t room to think about the danger Newt was in or the danger she could be in for having found him; this was a concrete problem that needed to be fixed, and she was an excellent fixer. She reached into her thin jacket for her wand and slowly, gently, levitated Newt out of the luggage rack. Once she’d lowered his body gently onto the floor of the train, she moved in close to check him for cuts, bruises, and broken bones. She held her breath as she scanned him with her eyes and with her magic, but the wound on his head seemed to be his only injury. Whoever had done this wanted to send a message, not inflict serious damage.

She pulled out a handkerchief, summoned some water from a nearby stream, and began to clean the blood off of his face. The blow to his head must have been well-struck to keep him unconscious this long, but Tina knew she wouldn’t have much trouble patching Newt up. Shifting to sit behind his head, she brushed his hair back to find the bump on his skull and started whispering a series of spells. As she did so, her mind began developing a story for what might have happened. Newt had likely needed to escape the crowded train compartment and wandered this way. Then, judging from the placement of the injury and the lack of any defensive wounds, someone must have snuck up behind him and cracked him over the head. She supposed the attacker was one of the would-be unicorn killers, although she had no idea how they’d discovered Newt’s plans or even who he was. Slipping her wand back into her coat pocket, she gave silent thanks that whoever had done this was so poorly acquainted with Newt as to think that a knock on the head would be enough to scare him away. Anyone who’d seen Newt in action would have known that he never gave up when a creature’s life was on the line.

As Tina sat there thinking, Newt began to stir. He moaned a little, fluttered his eyes open, and tried to push himself into a sitting position. Tina rushed to steady him and help him up. “Careful, Newt! You’re okay, but you’ve had a knock on the head. Move slowly for now, or you might—” Too late. Newt, disoriented and dizzy, had retched all over the suitcases at his side. “Or you might do that,” she finished lamely, wrinkling her nose at the smell. She said a basic cleaning spell to wipe away the worst of it, and then scrubbed halfheartedly at the spots on the carpet.

“Someone came up behind me…” Newt mumbled, placing a hand to his forehead and closing his eyes.

“I expect our unicorn men are on the train with us,” said Tina, pulling a peppermint out of her pocket and unwrapping it for him. “Here, this’ll help you get rid of the taste.”

“Thanks,” he said, placing it gingerly in his mouth.

“I’m not sure how long you were out; I’d guess at least an hour, since I’ve been reading and looking for you for nearly that long. They stuffed you into the luggage rack here, so you might feel sore tomorrow, but I healed up the worst of your head wound. They didn’t hit you anywhere else, which is a relief. Did you catch any glimpse of who did it? Or any scents or sounds? Those are useful, too.”

“No,” said Newt, moving his fingers lightly over his scalp to locate the lump on his head and assess the damage. “I heard footsteps behind me but didn’t think anything of it, and then I felt a sharp pain in my head, and, well, that’s all I remember.”

“That’s alright,” she said. “We’ll just be on our guard and make sure we don’t go off anywhere alone. Whoever did this waited to attack until you were by yourself, and even then they only knocked you out.”

Newt gave her a glare. “What do you mean, _only_ knocked me out? This hurts!”

Tina raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “I don’t mean that it’s fun getting whacked on the head, just that they had a perfect opportunity to kill you and toss you off a moving train into uninhabited woods, and instead they hit you once and then stuffed you in a luggage rack. We’re not dealing with hardened criminals, here, Newt—we’re dealing with frightened people who are looking for hope in the wrong places.”

“You can say that again,” Newt grumbled, massaging a crick in his neck.

“But at least now we know what sort of people we’re dealing with—they’re not really that scary. We’ve handled worse. I think we’ve got a good shot at saving this unicorn, Newt.”

He pursed his lips. “You said that we just needed to make sure we don’t go off anywhere alone, but our entire plan depends on us going out into the forest alone. And you’ll be especially alone. You’ve got to sit in the forest, all by yourself, in the middle of the night, wearing a color that sticks out like a sore thumb. And did I mention that you have to sit in a _clearing_ in the forest? You can’t possibly defend yourself from all angles when you’re sitting in the middle of a clearing.” He started to shake his head but then stopped, wincing. “This is going to be really dangerous, Tina. You can’t just brush the risks off like you did yesterday.”

 Tina tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and tugged her blouse down, avoiding Newt’s eyes.

“That said,” Newt continued with a sigh, “I’m not even going to suggest that you shouldn’t do it. I don’t want you to be in danger, and I certainly don’t want to be the one putting you at risk, but I also don’t see any other way to do this, and I know you can handle it. As long as you feel comfortable with our plan, I’ll make myself feel okay about it, too.” He reached out to lay a hand on her knee. “I trust your judgment, so I'll go along with whatever you decide. You’re far more important than a unicorn, but you’re also far more competent than these animal murderers. It’s your call.”

She raised her head and beamed at him. “We’re doing this, Newt,” she said. “We handled Gellert Grindelwald and the entire strike squad at MACUSA; there’s no way we’re letting some small time scaredy cats get us down.”

His eyes twinkled. “You’re a wonder, Tina Goldstein.” He gradually drew himself to his feet, wobbling until Tina moved to support his weight. They were smiling shyly at each other, their heads inching closer together, when the unmistakable sound of a rumbling stomach ruined the moment. Newt laughed. “Let’s go eat some lunch and get ready to save a unicorn, then, shall we?”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Tina, her neck turning progressively pinker with embarrassment at her talkative stomach and pleasure at getting to walk --even if it wasn’t for long-- with her arm under Newt’s shoulders and his arm around her waist. 

~~~

They had barely finished brushing away the crumbs from their lunch when the train arrived in Scharzfeld, the town closest to the Einhornhöhle. Despite scandalized looks and whispers from other passengers on the train, Tina shouldered both her travel valise and Newt’s suitcase as they disembarked, unwilling to let him do any unnecessary physical activity until he’d had more time to recover.

It didn’t take them long to find a small inn to stay at—the town was hardly more than a ten minute walk from one end to the other, and the inn was close to the train station, anyway. As Tina looked at the small kitchen gardens and carefully tended flowerbeds in Scharzfeld, she noticed that there seemed to be more chickens here than people. Not that she minded; it was easier to see someone sneaking up on you when the only other thing in the street was a chicken. Although the innkeeper grumbled a bit about their not having a reservation, they were still able to get two adjoining rooms. Their accommodations here were simpler and more rustic than those in Wernigerode, but everything was clean and serviceable.

The girl who led them up the stairs gave them a largely unnecessary briefing as she opened the door to Tina’s bedroom, which then she repeated at Newt’s. “Bed, nightstand, washstand, wardrobe. Washrooms are at the end of the hall. Dinner starts at seven.”

“Danke,” said Tina, continuing to test out her language skills.

Tina and Newt decamped to Newt’s room again, and she directed him to sit down immediately so that she could check his head wound. He lowered himself onto the twin bed and she knelt behind him, her knees sinking into the soft mattress. After a few seconds, she nodded in satisfaction. “Looks good as new. You might be a little dizzy for the rest of the day, but that will pass once you’ve had time to eat, sleep, and save our unicorn.”

“Oh, so it’s our unicorn now, is it?” He tilted his head back to look up at her, his voice warm with amusement. She kept her hands cradled on either side of his face and looked tenderly down at him.

“Better ours than anyone else’s,” she murmured, and kissed him lightly on the forehead. He flinched, which caused her to pull away, but she didn’t get very far, because Newt spun around and caught her hand.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice soft. “I… I liked that. My head feels much better now.” He gave her a tentative smile, and she relaxed down onto the bed next to him. “In fact, it did me so much good, maybe… maybe you could do it again?”

She flushed scarlet, but, far from demurring, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead once more. She let her lips linger on his skin this time, savoring the trust he was showing her by allowing her to touch him. He relaxed into the gentle pressure of her kiss, and his eyelids fluttered shut. She pulled away, her mouth gently parted, and smiled at the contentment on his face before bending to kiss his cheek, and then his ear, and then his neck, feeling him shiver at her touch. His hand tightened on hers, and she felt her heartbeat pounding in her ears. 

No. No, they needed to prepare for tonight, not do… whatever this was. She stood up jerkily and let his hand fall back onto his lap. “I… I… You’re very distracting, Newt,” she said, backing towards the door and giving him a shaky laugh. He tilted his head sideways and blinked at her. “I’ll see you downstairs for dinner?” She squeaked, retreating into the hallway.

“Yes,” he said, his voice faint. He watched, motionless, as she fled to her room.

~~~

They reunited in the little restaurant on the ground floor of the guesthouse promptly at seven. Tina had yet to change into the white dress she would wear to lure the unicorn to her, but she had changed out of her travel outfit into a delicate blouse and a long green skirt that always made her think of summer. As he pulled out her chair for her to sit, he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Do you think the killers are staying here, too?”

She was grateful for the olive branch and gave him a quick smile. “Probably. I didn’t see anywhere else to stay in this town, and we know they don’t live here since they were coming in on the train, too.” Noting the tension in Newt’s face, she added, “Safety in numbers, though. We’ll be okay.” 

He nodded and shifted around in his chair, scanning the room for anyone who looked suspicious. Tina suspected he felt the same way she did—not nervous, exactly, and certainly not worried, but… on alert, that was it. As long as they paid attention, they ought to be fine. Besides, the restaurant was soon full of a mix of tourists staying at the inn and locals looking for dinner they hadn't had to cook for themselves. There was no way the criminals would be bold enough to cause a scene here.

Unfortunately, Tina and Newt were so focused on monitoring their fellow diners that they completely ignored the waiter. Had they been watching him as closely as they watched the table of middle-aged men in the corner, all of whom were completely innocent locals who gathered there every week to talk shop and debate politics, or the thin, dour man at the table next to theirs, who swallowed every mouthful of food as if it were medicine, they would have noticed their waiter slip white powder into the drink of every woman in the room. 

Every woman except one, that is—the waiter did not alter the glass of water he handed to a pale, nervous adolescent girl, who was sitting alone at the back of the room and clad entirely in white. No, her drink remained pure, although he served it to her coldly, with a steely look and a firm admonishment to behave, or else.

But Newt and Tina did not see this odd interaction or the waiter's subtle tampering, and so they enjoyed their meal in relative calm, rounding things off with a serving of ice cream and a glass of wine for each of them. They exited the dining room around eight or so, pleased that the would-be killers had left well enough alone, and headed upstairs to wait for nightfall. The adventure part of the promised 'adventure tour of the Harz' was drawing near: as soon as the world was dark, they would head into the forest and save a unicorn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The Big Four_ , a Hercule Poirot novel by Agatha Christie, was published on January 27, 1927. I like to imagine that Tina is a detective novel fan; she probably reads them to learn about muggle investigative strategies just as much as she reads them for fun.
> 
> One more chapter! Or maybe two more, if it takes me a while to hit all the plot points; I'm not sure I'm in the mood to write and edit another chapter as long as this one... But probably just one more. Regardless, the end of this fic is coming soon, so stay tuned...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tina and Newt go into the woods.

Tina and Newt held hands as they walked deeper into the forest, trying not to stumble over logs or walk through spider webs. They’d decided to rely on the moon to light their way rather than using their wands, hoping to avoid alerting the unicorn killers to their presence in the forest. Of course, if the killers were within eyeshot it wouldn’t matter how quiet they were being, seeing as Tina’s white dress stood out like a beacon against the grays and dusky greens of the shadowed forest, but there was nothing to be done about that. 

“Newt,” Tina whispered, “How far into the forest do we need to go?”

“A mile more, I’d say. Unicorns prefer deep woods.”

She nodded and paused briefly to hitch her stockings back up. She was grateful she’d decided to wear them—once she was sitting down, the night air would seem positively chilly—but at the moment they were simply a nuisance, and she was feeling overheated and inconveniently drowsy.

After another twenty minutes of walking, Newt stopped and surveyed the area. “This should be far enough. As soon as we find a clearing, I’ll leave you and walk back this way to wait for your signal.”

“Got it,” she said, yawning a little.

After hiking up and down several more ridges, they finally found the clearing they needed. Newt had been right; it would be impossible to defend herself effectively from this position. Drat. She reached reflexively for her wand and started to move forward, feeling Newt squeeze her hand tightly before letting her go. She settled down in the center of the open space, stretched her long legs in front of her, and tugged the flapper dress as far down as it would go. Not for the first time tonight, she wished she’d packed a sensible white dress back in New York. This stylishly skimpy dress was only serving to make her feel even more vulnerable than the situation deserved. If she had to sit out here by herself in the middle of nowhere, it would be easier to do it in comfortable attire. Ah well, things were the way they were, and that was that. She gave Newt a firm nod and watched him melt away into the darkness of the Harz.

As the hours ticked by, Tina had to admit that it was actually rather pleasant sitting out in the middle of the woods all alone. She could hear the burble of a brook beyond the next ridge, owls calling out “who cooks for you?”, and the chirps and buzzes of insects singing to potential mates. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay awake; she felt herself start to nod off several times, and her usual tricks of biting her tongue or pinching her arm weren’t helping at all.

She still felt overly warm, too, smothered in a slow, cozy heat that pulled at her consciousness and tried to lull her asleep. She shook her head violently, reminding herself that she had to stay awake, she had to be awake for the unicorn, she had to be awake to tell Newt about the unicorn, but to no avail. Although Tina had been able to fight the waiter’s sleeping pills longer than any of the other women in the restaurant that night –they had all drifted into unconsciousness a mere hour after dinner– even she couldn’t resist the drugs forever. Her thoughts became more and more disjointed, even as she kept her teeth fastened tightly on her tongue, and the last thing her mind registered as she drifted off to sleep was a bright, startlingly white figure approaching through the trees.

~~~

Newt was pacing back and forth as close to the clearing as he felt he could be without keeping the unicorn from coming to Tina. Although it was a pleasant evening, he was having trouble staying alert. Usually when he was bored he’d draft passages of his book in his mind, but that required more concentration than he could spare—he needed to be able to jump into action as soon as Tina signaled the unicorn’s arrival. He was tired of holding his suitcase, though, and his eyelids felt equally heavy. If only he were as good at napping as Tina was, he’d be better at nighttime adventures. He rubbed at his neck, which was still sore from his nap in the luggage rack, and stifled a yawn. He’d imagined a thousand different ways this night could play out, but none of them had been quite this… boring.

He turned back around to pace in the other direction and saw a flash of sparks rise up from the direction of the clearing. That was definitely not the signal they’d agreed upon; they’d opted for something subtle but impossible to ignore when they decided that Tina would send a flock of bats –an illusion, of course– flying towards Newt. This fireworks display was anything but subtle; anyone for miles around would see these sparks flying heavenwards. Newt had no idea what had happened, but whatever it was, it couldn’t mean anything good for Tina.

Newt nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to run to her, his stomach churning and his heart racing. These reactions were purely biological, because he wasn’t worried—there was nothing he could do beyond what he was already doing—but he did want to get to Tina as quickly as possible. He crested the final ridge that led to the clearing and skidded to a stop. There, in the center of the clearing, lay Tina, her eyes rolled back in her head and her body juddering against the earth. And kneeling beside her, glossy and serene, its head bent so that its horn was resting gently above Tina’s prone figure, was a fully-grown unicorn.

 It took Newt no more than a moment to process what he was seeing, but that was all the time it took for a passel of heavily armed men to come charging into the clearing from the other direction.

“ _Da! Das Einhorn!_ ” A sturdy man with a mustache and a dark felt cap yelled and pointed at the unicorn. Newt blinked in shock. It was the man from the lobby in Wernigerode. And next to him was the waiter from the restaurant tonight. Well, that cleared up the mystery of who had attacked Newt— and how they’d known he was coming to save the unicorn. If only he had been more careful when he’d talked to the desk clerk about unicorn legends. _Ah well, too late now_ , he thought, trying to determine whether or not the men had seen him. Some of them must be wizards, too, seeing as he'd met the mustached man at a wizards' inn, and there was no way he could take them all on at once if they’d already noticed his presence. He was still frozen at the edge of the clearing, trying to decide what to do, when the group of men raised their guns to shoot, seemingly unconcerned that Tina was directly in the line of fire. _No, no, no,_ Newt thought, _I won’t let this happen._

“Petrificus totalus!” He yelled, charging into the clearing and sweeping his wand to direct the spell at as many of the gunmen as possible. He heard gunshots go off and the soft thunk of bullets spraying the dirt. He supposed they’d responded to his cry by aiming at the sound of his voice rather than shooting the unicorn immediately, but it wouldn’t take long for them to release their next volley, and he had to get Tina and the unicorn out of here before that. “Stupefy!” He wasn’t even looking or aiming at the men anymore, he was just trying to distract them long enough to buy himself the time he needed to get to Tina. 

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,” he gabbled, sliding to her side and sending a blast of magefire in the direction of their attackers. He barely heard the men’s shrieks above the pounding of his own heart. He snapped open his suitcase and threw up the lid, hoping nothing inside decided to jump out right at that moment. “I’m here to save you from the hunters,” Newt said hurriedly to the unicorn. “Please, get inside my case, you’ll be safe there and we’ll set you free somewhere you don’t have to worry about getting shot.” The unicorn blinked slowly at him and then bowed its head before stepping gingerly into the open mouth of the magical suitcase. Newt sighed with relief and slammed the lid down. He felt something tear into in his bicep and realized the men who’d survived the fight so far must have reloaded and begun shooting again. Grimacing at the pain, he stuck his wand between his teeth, clutched his suitcase in one hand, and grabbed Tina’s wrist with the other. Then he screwed up his eyes and, to the surprise of the muggle gunmen and the frustration of the wizards, vanished into thin air.

~~~

Tina awoke feeling refreshed and surprisingly spry.

“You’re back!” Newt said, and she turned sideways to see him sitting next to her, his upper arm bandaged and his face bright with happiness.

“What happened?” She asked, shaken by the wrapping on his arm and her inability to remember the night before.

“We saved the unicorn!” He crowed, his freckled face alight in triumph.

She grinned back at him, still confused, but pleased nonetheless. “Well, that’s good,” she said. “I’m glad things worked out, although I don’t remember anything beyond... Oh, golem’s teeth, I fell asleep, didn’t I!” She clapped her hand to her forehead. “Oh, Newt! That’s the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do. That’s unforgivable.”

Newt laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. The waiter at the restaurant slipped you a sleeping pill—he did the same to all the women at the restaurant, apparently, so that the only woman in the woods last night would be the girl he and his friends brought.” Newt paused for a moment and scratched his nose. “It seems that the physiological differences between witches and muggle women let you fight off the effects of the sleeping pill for a few hours, but when the drugs finally did kick in, you reacted very badly.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “The unicorn must have felt your presence, sensed that you were in trouble, and come to your aid. I saw the sparks from his healing magic and realized something had gone wrong, and, well, from there it was just a matter of coaxing the unicorn into the case and spiriting us out of that forest.” 

Tina raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t explain your arm.”

“Oh, that.” Newt shrugged. “Our superstitious friends showed up and started shooting. I’ll heal up quickly, though; the unicorn already fixed most of the damage.”

“Having a magical physician on standby is certainly useful in both of our professions,” she said dryly.

“That’s true,” said Newt, smiling back at her. They sat quietly until the silence shifted from companionable to uncomfortable. They’d nearly died last night, and each of them felt pressure to do that experience some sort of justice, to demonstrate that they took life seriously and recognized just how close to the edge they’d been dancing. Eventually, Newt sighed and gave up on trying to find just the right combination of meaningful words. “I’m afraid I’ve mucked up your holiday. It’s becoming a specialty of mine, I’m sorry.”

Tina looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean? It's not as if you planned for any of this to happen. Besides, you promised me an adventure tour, and that’s exactly what I got. How many people ever get to see a unicorn, let alone go out and save one while on vacation? I wouldn’t trade this for the world.” She reached out to hold his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Also, I’d have gotten bored if all we’d done was hike up and down mountains. This was much better.” 

Newt ducked his head in relief.

“Although,” Tina said teasingly, “I might have preferred the Lorelei to being drugged and shot at. She’d be a piece of cake compared to this. Should we make the Rhine our next stop?”

 Newt perked up immediately. “Really? You’ve changed your mind?”

“ _No_! Newt, I was _kidding_ ,” Tina said, smacking his good arm. “We are _not_ going to see the Lorelei. In the last two days you’ve been knocked unconscious, stuffed in a luggage rack, and shot in the bicep-- I think that’s enough danger for you for one trip.”

“But this is the perfect opportunity to observe her safely,” said Newt, his tone earnest enough that Tina couldn’t tell whether or not he was serious. “My gunshot wound has compromised my upper body strength, so you’d definitely be able to keep me from throwing myself overboard.”

She spluttered for a minute, unsure how she would dissuade him from something so daft, and then she saw the wicked grin creeping across his face. She snorted in exasperation and relief. “No, Newt. No Lorelei. Not now, not ever. I would rather eat fish every day for the rest of my life than go find the Lorelei.” 

He chuckled. “How about shepherd’s pie?”

“Even better,” she said, beginning to laugh. “I know a good place; want to go?” 

“Yes, please. How about Tuesday?”

“It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Barred Owls are the ones who call "who cooks for you?" (lots of clips of this online), and they live in North America, not Germany, but I'm leaving it in because it is a Fun Owl Fact.
> 
> The end! I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
